Loyola University Chicago

CLST 277: The World of Late Antiquity

Spring Semester 2017
Dr. Jacqueline Long

 Diocletian, portrait head c 284 from Nicomedia, Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, photo J. Long

Schedule of Reading Assignments and Topics

MWF 9:20am - 10:10am
Mundelein Center 406

Texts

W 1/18 Introduction: Entering the Roman World
F 1/20 Empire and Change in the Third Century
  • Cameron, Ch. I "Introduction"
  • Study resource: the Imperial Index of the DIR - dates, most-familiar forms of the names, and links to peer-edited scholarly overviews of the emperors, their reigns, sources, and scholarly bibliography (a good place to start following up on emperors: they make a good sequence of identities to organize chronology around)
  • Study questions
  • Individually, prepare SQ3R Grid for documents in reading assignment for Monday 1/23, to submit in class Monday 1/23; cf. SQ3R for Primary-Source Coursework for fuller explanation of the method1
M 1/23 Old-Time Religions
  • Lee, items # 1.1-14, 8.1
  • SQ3R Grid of today's reading assignment due today! (done thoughtfully and written notes kept in good order, this method of reading-preparation can promote learning, reduce stress, and support successful displays of learning such as on exams; it is always recommended, whether or not it is assigned to be checked)
  • Study questions
W 1/25 Christian Conversion in Roman Society
F 1/27 Religious Enforcement by Decius
M 1/30 The Formation of the Tetrarchy
W 2/1 Imperial Care for the Economy
F 2/3 The Great Persecution
M 2/6 Christian Polemical History: Persecuting Emperors
W 2/8 Christian Polemical History: Evidence and Spin
F 2/10 Christian Polemical History: Assessing Evidence
M 2/13 Constantine: Documentary Snapshots
W 2/15 Constantine in Context?
F 2/17 Exam I
M 2/20 The "Rhetoric" of Imperial Capitals
W 2/22 Imperial Power and Roman Religion, after Constantine
F 2/24 Junior Emperor
M 2/27 It was a Dark and Stormy Empire: Contemporary Narrative History
  • Ammianus Marcellinus, Books 14.1-15.6 (part review)
  • SQ3R Grid of today's reading assignment due today!
  • Study questions
W 3/1 The Subject in Roman History
  • Ammianus Marcellinus, Books 15.5 (review); 18.4-19.9; the very last paragraph of 31.16
  • Study questions
F 3/3 Roman Society and Its Discontents
M 3/6 - Sa 3/11 Spring Break: no classes
M 3/13 Catch a Rising Star
W 3/15 Julian the Retrograde
F 3/17 A Boy's Life in Roman North Africa
M 3/20 Monnica and Women's Christianity
W 3/22 Late Antique Aesthetics and Culture
F 3/24 Swimming with Manichees
M 3/27 Exam II
W 3/29 Imperial Transitions
  • Cameron, Ch. VII "The Late Roman State"
  • Lee, items # 5.9, 5.10, 6.1
  • Study questions
F 3/31 Rome's Army
M 4/3 Bad Neighbors: Violence and Corruption in International Relations
W 4/5 The Controversial Altar of Victory
  • Symmachus, Referral 3 (Vanderspoel's "Relation" in the title here Anglicizes the Latin, relatio, a technical term for a magistrate's letter referring some matter to the emperor's central administration for official advice - it has nothing except etymology to do with the current English word "relation")
  • Ambrose, Letters XVII and XVIII (again, Vanderspoel)
  • Study resources - visualization:
    • Victory, marble, between 240-190 BC, from Samothrace, now in the Louvre: in modern times the most famous image of Victory from the ancient Greek or Roman world (Wikimedia Commons, posted by Marie-Lan Nguyen)
    • Victory, marble relief, AD 315, Arch of Constantine, Rome (photo Roy Winkelman, ClipPix ETC, Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida)
    • pagan worship, ivory diptych of the Nicomachi and Symmachi (WikiMedia Commons, posted by user "Marsyas")
  • Presentation today! The team working on projects related to Imperial Influencers will make a collaborative presentation about results of their work.
  • Study questions
F 4/7 Ambrose the Bishop
  • Lee, items # 12.1, 12.2, 14.6, 14.10
  • Ambrose, Letter XX (Vanderspoel)
  • Study questions
M 4/10 Augustine in Milan
W 4/12 Giving it up for God
Th 4/13, 4:15pm - M 4/17, 4:15pm Easter Holiday: no classes
W 4/19 Platonic and Desiring Christianity
F 4/21 Christians and Jews
M 4/24 Holy Places: Contact and Transcendence
W 4/26 Ambrose and Theodosius: Articulating the Powers of Church and State
F 4/28 Legacy of the Later Roman Empire
W 5/3
9:00am - 4:15pm
 Study Day.
See Loyola's Final Exam Schedule.
Sa 5/6
1:00pm - 3:00pm
 Final examination.
See Loyola's Final Exam Schedule.
Loyola University's Undergraduate Studies Catalog provides that instructors do not have authority to re-schedule final examinations under any circumstances; if your course-schedule results in your facing four (4) final exams on a single day, you may petition Assistant Dean Manzano to have one (1) of the four re-scheduled on the authority of the College of Arts and Sciences.

BACK to CLST 277 homepage

Loyola Homepage Department of Classical Studies Find Loyolans Loyola Site Index
Loyola University Chicago

Revised 3 March 2017 by jlong1@luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/depts/classics/